Crepes with Tuna Fish, Tarragon & Sauce Mornay

LAST SATURDAY, I took 8 crepes out of the freezer, and then proceeded to invent a highly-fragrant filling for them. The filling was made from common supermarket items — including canned tuna, frozen spinach, and dried tarragon. These I bound together in a sumptuous, velvety French sauce called “Sauce Mornay.” The result of this mad-experiment? Well, one bite and I thought I was eating perfume. Two bites and I nearly passed out from pleasure. Three bites, and I realized I’d have to share the recipe with you.Tuna-Tarragon Crepeswith Sauce MornayIngredients for 4 servings (2 crepes per person)
8 Basic Crepes (I use this recipe)
3 cans (6-oz each) solid white Albacore tuna, packed in water
1 box (10-oz) frozen chopped spinach
1 large white onion, diced
1 tsp dried tarragon
1/3 cup dry vermouth
Good-quality olive oil
Salt and freshly-ground black pepper

Special equipment — a heavy-bottomed, 12-inch-diameter skillet; a heavy-bottomed saucepan which will hold at least 4 cups; a buttered 9×13 casserole

1. The onion and tarragon –In a skillet set over a low flame, heat one Tbsp butter and a glug of olive oil until the butter has melted but not colored. Add the minced onions and tsp of dried tarragon. Stir briefly, and then cover the skillet tightly, and let the onions sweat for 5 minutes, or until they have softened.

2. The spinach – While the onions cook, place the unopened box of frozen spinach in a bowl, then set the bowl in the microwave. Thaw on “High” for exactly 3 minutes. Cut the box open, letting its contents fall into the bowl. The spinach won’t be completed thawed, so break up any frozen bits with your hands. Pour off liquid from the bowl. Then, a fistful at a time, squeeze the spinach to rid it of excess moisture, as pictured above.

Drop the spinach onto your cutting board, and chop it into smallish pieces, as pictured above. Stir the spinach into the still-cooking onion mixture.

3. The tuna and vermouth – open and drain well the 3 cans of tuna. Add the tuna to the onion mixture, breaking the tuna up with a wooden spatula or a dinner fork. You should end up with small bits of tuna, blended evenly among with the onions, spinach, and tarragon. Turn up the heat, add the vermouth, and let the vermouth boil for about a minute to evaporate its alcohol taste.

My, this dish smells good already, doesn’t it?

Remove skillet from heat, add a pinch of salt and 3-5 grinds of black pepper, and then taste carefully. You might like to add more salt, or perhaps a bit more tarragon.

4. The Sauce Mornay – In the saucepan set over low heat, melt the butter, but do not let it brown. Add the flour, and cook, stirring with a wire whisk all the while, for about 2 minutes. Cooking the flour removes the “flour-y” taste. Whisking continuously, pour in about half the milk. When this has thickened — which should be immediately — gradually whisk in another 1/2 cup or so of the milk. You want the sauce to be thick enough to enrobe and bind the tuna filling. Remove from heat; stir in 1/2 cup of Swiss cheese.

Preheat oven to 375; place one oven rack at the lower-middle position, and another rack just beneath the broiling element.

5. Filling the crepes — Pour the tuna mixture into a medium bowl, and toss it with about a 1/2 cup of the Sauce Mornay. You want just enough sauce to enrobe the filling; too much and the filling will spill out of the crepes as they bake. Spoon about 2 Tbsp filling onto the bottom third of a crepe, and then roll the crepe into a cylinder.

Thin out the remaining Sauce Mornay with a little more milk to make it pourable. Then spoon just enough sauce over the crepes to give them a velvety topping…

and finally, sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

6. Baking – 20 minutes at 375; followed by a few minutes beneath the broiler – Place the crepes in the preheated oven, and bake until the sauce becomes bubbly — about 20 minutes. Then turn the broiler on, transfer the crepes to the rack just beneath the broiler, and let them bask until the Sauce Mornay turns spotty-brown, as pictured up top, 2-3 minutes.

Serving – You can serve these crepes for lunch, along with a tossed green salad and a glass of Sauvignon blanc. They make a mighty-fine first course for dinner, too, especially if you are having chicken for the main course.

If you want to make these crepes a day in advance, you certainly can. Just complete all the steps except the final, baking one. Then bake for about 25-30 minutes, followed by the broiler-browning.

Folks, Tuna-Tarragon Crepes are heaven on earth. Promise me you’ll try them some day, okay? Otherwise I’ll send Jacques, my hunky assistant, to your house, so he can make them for you. I made that last part up. Jacques is only my imaginary assistant.

Oh. Oh my! I believe a shopping order is soon to happen… I’m craving this now!
[It’s so dangerous to read your journal first thing in the work day…]
Funny thing is, I had a similar dinner last night… I made enchiladas! Ground beef saute with onions and beans wrapped in tortillas’, and a home made tomato sauce poured over top and then cheese’d. Served with seasoned rice. Mmmm…

Mary – If you find a GF crepe recipe — one that turns out light, thin, flexible pancakes which don’t disintegrate during folding or cooking — please let me know! My partner is gluten-intolerant. You should have seen his face when he realized he couldn’t eat the tuna-tarragon crepes I’d just made. I felt SO sorry for him!

Donna B. – Oooh…I love Mexican food too. I wonder if you tried the recipe for Heuvos con Verdelagos that I posted last summer. Verdelagos is the succulent “pig weed” that grows (uninvited) in almost every garden.

Of course, you have GOT to try the above tuna-tarragon sumptuousness too. And if you do try it, I hope you’ll let me know how it turned out for you.

This is something that I can put together so quickly on a night I have a meeting. I love tuna, but always think of cooking tuna steaks on a grill. this is a great way to incorporate tuna more frequently.

I dont have a website, but have really enjoyed yours and shared it with my nearest and dearest. Every recipe I have tried is very very good.and I also like your gardening advice. My only problem is my lack of computer skills so I have to hand copy some recipes, a small price to pay for such truly good food. M any thanks Kevin.

Kevin Lee Jacobs

Kevin is an award-winning food, garden and lifestyle guru who lives in New York's Hudson Valley. His recipes have appeared in dozens of newspapers. He has contributed countless gardening articles to African Violet Magazine, Berkshire Home Style Magazine, and Garden Design Magazine.